How to Deploy the Improvement Kata

How to Deploy the Improvement Kata Based on our experiences so far v 5.0 Mike Rother Bill Costantino Beth Carrington Gerd Aulinger April 2011 For reference see: Chapter 9 Copyright © 2013 Mike Rother, all rights reserved 1217 Baldwin Avenue / Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA / tel: (734) 665-5411 / mrother@umich.edu© Mike Rother Deploying 1

WEʼVE LEARNED A LOT ABOUT DEPLOYING IMPROVEMENT KATA SKILL DEVELOPMENT Beth Gerd Bill Mike Practicing the Improvement Kata helps anyone get better at navigating unknown territory and meeting challenges. To make the pattern of the Improvement Kata a habit it should be practiced and coached every day.© Mike Rother Deploying 2

DEPLOYING THE IMPROVEMENT KATA INVOLVES SKILL-BUILDING PRACTICE This document describes how to set up a coaching process in yourorganization, to train people in applying the Improvement Kata pattern © Mike Rother Deploying 3

THREE INGREDIENTS FOR EFFECTIVE PRACTICING “With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention,our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.” ~ Alfred Binet  PRACTICE COACHING Daily  METHOD (kata) The Improvement Kata© Mike Rother Deploying 4

COACHING IS A KEY INGREDIENT Process PRACTICE COACHING Learner METHOD Without coaching we lose our way and donʼt practice the right pattern, or practice ineffectively. If the learner isnʼt learning the Improvement Kata pattern or if the target condition is not being reached, examine the coaching.© Mike Rother Deploying 5

THE DEPLOYMENT GOAL IS TO MAKE PRACTICING AND COACHING THE IMPROVEMENT KATA PART OF EVERY DAYʼS WORK Practicing the Improvement Kata should get integrated into daily management, not just be an add-on project or workshop Striving with the Improvement Kata Troubleshooting A slice of each day is focused on striving toward a challenging target condition with the Improvement Kata. This is guided via the Five Coaching Kata Questions (Coach) and the PDCA The Workday Cycles Record (Learner) in daily Coaching Cycles.© Mike Rother Deploying 6

PRACTICE THE IMPROVEMENT KATA BY APPLYING IT TO A REAL PROCESS & TARGET CONDITION Learners do 2 things simultaneously: Strive to reach a real target condition + practice the pattern of the Improvement Kata Not this Training Doing But this Doing & Here the coach can see (combined) Training in real time where the learner is, and introduce appropriate adjustments© Mike Rother Deploying 7

THE ROUTINES TO PRACTICELEARNER - Improvement Kata Understand Grasp the Establish the PDCA Toward the the Current Next Target Target Condition Direction Condition Condition ACT PLAN Go and Target See TC Condition CHECK DO The 5 CC QuestionsCOACH - Coaching Kata Coaching Cycles Coaching / Instructing Process Coach Learner© Mike Rother Deploying 8

Lessons LESSONS LEARNED Learned ABOUT DEPLOYING THE IMPROVEMENT KATA R This is not something for every organization. Itʼs about a different way of managing, not just adding techniques on top of how you currently manage. R To bring the pattern of the Improvement Kata into the operation of your organization and make it a habit, mid-level management will have to actively coach it every day. R You may think deploying simply means getting people in the organization to start practicing the Improvement Kata, but in our experience an effort to deploy the improvement kata must be guided. Establish an ʻAdvance Groupʼ as described in this document.© Mike Rother Deploying 9

Lessons Learned continued R A gating factor is how much Improvement-Kata coaching capability you are developing in your organization. You cannot expand wider and faster than your coaching capability. R To be able to coach the Improvement Kata, a person first has to learn how to do the Improvement Kata. Dreyfus level “Competent +” seems to be the minimum skill level for being a coach. R Its not sufficient for the organizations leaders to simply say they support the working pattern of the Improvement Kata. If they donʼt practice it themselves in some way, they will not understand it.© Mike Rother Deploying 10

3 LEVELS OF IMPROVEMENT KATA SKILL 3 LEVELS OF PRACTICING 3-PHASE DEPLOYMENT APPROACH© Mike Rother Deploying 12

THREE LEVELS OF IMPROVEMENT KATA SKILL PRACTICE Coaching Kata Able to Know why COACH it Can teach othersPRACTICEImprovement Able to Know howKata DO it Can effectively apply Coetent Competent the Improvement Kata Dreyfus Levels AWARE Know what Dreyfus level “Competent” in the Improvement Kata of it Know about the seems to be a prerequisite Improvement Kata for starting to Coach. To coach the Improvement Kata you need experience in applying the Improvement Kata © Mike Rother Deploying 13

THE DREYFUS LEVELS OF SKILL ACQUISITION Another way to gage skill development (5 levels in this case). Keep in mind: This model measures skill, or degree of habituation, not the person Stage Characteristics Standard of Work Autonomy No longer relies on rules / guidelines / maxims Able to take responsibility Excellence achieved with for going beyond existing 5 Expert Grasp of situations & decision making intuitive relative ease standards and creating Vision of what is possible own interpretationsAble to Sees what is most important in a situation Fully acceptable standard Able to take fullCoach 4 Proficient Perceives deviations from the normal pattern achieved routinely responsibility for own work, and coach others Maxims vary according to situation Copes with crowdedness Fit for purpose, though Able to achieve most tasks 3 Competent Sees actions partially in terms of LT goals may lack refinement using own judgement Has standardized and routinized procedures Action based on attributes or aspects Able to achieve some Straightforward tasks likely Advanced steps using own 2 Beginner Situational perception still limited to be completed to an judgement, but supervision acceptable standard All aspects are given equal importance needed for overall task Adherence to rules or plans Unlikely to be satisfactory Needs close supervision 1 Novice Little situational perception unless closely supervised or instruction No discretionary judgement Adapted from: Dreyfus, Stuart E., Formal Models vs. Human Situational Understanding: Inherent Limitations on the Modelling of Business Expertise, University of California, Berkeley, 1981 © Mike Rother Deploying 14

THREE LEVELS OF PRACTICING (3) Daily practice and daily Coaching Cycles DAILY built into your normal management routine PRACTICE Practice sessions (typically 3) with the IK, on (2) real target conditions in your organization • Understand the Direction SKILL-BUILDING • Grasp the Current Condition PRACTICE • Establish a Target Condition • PDCA Toward the Target Condition • Coaching Cycles Initial study & practice (1) - Read Toyota Kata & The Talent Code. AWARENESS - Participate in a Toyota Kata course. PRACTICE - Get initial experience with the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata routines.© Mike Rother Deploying 15

A THREE-PHASE DEPLOYMENT APPROACH A way to bring the Improvement Kata into an organizationPHASE I:If your organization is interested in the IK / CK, start by forming a small group of scoutsto study the subject. The scouts should take an Improvement Kata course, such as asthe ones offered by the University of Michigan and the Lean Enterprise Institute.PHASE II:Now the team of scouts better understands the scope of the task and how much itʼsabout culture change through deliberate practice. If the organization is still interestedat this point then the next step is to form an Advance Group of about 5 people who willoversee the deployment. This group should include at least one senior manager.At this point an external coach can start working with the organization by coaching theAdvance Group. The external coach does not have responsibility for bringing theImprovement Kata into the organization. Thatʼs the responsibility of the Advance Group,which canʼt be delegated. Note that the Advance Group is not the start of a cascade,but rather a group that will conduct PDCA of skill development at the organization level.At this point the Advance Group practices applying the Improvement Kata to selectedwork processes, under guidance of the external coach, in order to learn theImprovement Kata. This takes about 2 months.PHASE III:Now you can expand into the normal daily activity of middle managers by focusing onapplying the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata at work processes and theirassociated chain of persons. You add processes as coaching capacity permits.The Advance Group now monitors and shepherds the skill-development process. © Mike Rother Deploying 16

THE THREE-PHASE DEPLOYMENT APPROACH PHASE III - Expansion into normal business process of PHASE I PHASE II line managers, slice by slice Scouts Form an Advance Senior Area Supervisors Group Managers Managers study the Advance subject Group Practices Practice the IK Daily Awareness Prepare Coaching Practice Skill-Dev Cycles PlanHave a few ʻScoutsʼfamiliarize themselves Skill Skill Buildingwith the subject; by Building Practice Practicereading ʻToyota Kataʼ& ʻThe Talent Codeʼ,and taking a Toyota AwarenessKata course. Awareness Practice Practice The basic deployment process is to External coach practice the Improvement Kata pattern needed here! at one management level and pass it down another level through one-on- one coaching; so the behavior pattern permeates the organization. The Advance Group observes and PDCAs the skill-development process© Mike Rother Deploying 17

PHASE III: EXPANDING SLICE BY SLICE • A slice = a process and itʼs associated chain of persons. • Add slices only as your coaching capacity permits. • Once you start applying the Improvement Kata to a process you should never stop. So itʼs better to start too small than to involve too many people too quickly. Advance Site Area Mgr. or Supervisor or PROCESSES Group Manager Supervisor Team Leader Process A Process B TargetCoach <---> Learner relationships © Mike Rother Deploying 18

SO WHO PRACTICES FIRST? In Phase II the Advance Group and some designated coaches are the first learners (~9 persons). They practice the Improvement Kata on artificially-selected work processes to gain IK skill. Then in Phase III you begin with managers, not supervisors, practicing on the actual processes they manage. Itʼs top down. Advance Site Area Mgr. or Supervisor or PROCESSES Group Manager Supervisor Team Leader Process A Process B Why top down? Middle managers are key players in teaching and reinforcing habits of thinking and acting in an organization. If you start IK projects with process supervisors but they are surrounded by a different way of thinking among their managers then the projects are unlikely to sustain.© Mike Rother Deploying 19

WHAT A DEPLOYMENT LOOKS LIKE (not to scale) Number of experienced Advance Group makes 6 or 12-month plan coaches in the organization Advance Group reflection and next plan Slice 4 Slice 3 Series of 3 Target Slice 2 Conditions (~ 25 PDCA cycles) on practice processes Slice 1Scouts study Form AG and first coachesthe subject AG practice the IK Advance Group conducts bi-weekly reflectionsPHASE I PHASE II PHASE III Initial instructor 2nd Coach External and coach As needed Coachʼs On site every Role On site every 2 - 4 weeks 2 weeks© Mike Rother Deploying 20

WHAT ABOUT THE LEAN TOOLS AND PRACTICES? Lean tools, techniques and principles to improve quality, cost and delivery are as useful and important as ever, but they should be applied within the context of the Improvement Kata. What are you trying to achieve? Lean tools are brought in (pulled) situationally as needed. The mindset youʼre trying to develop is one of working iteratively to discover and do what is necessary to achieve a goal, as opposed to a mindset of pushing and implementing pre-defined solutions or tools. For example, if a kanban system will help a team achieve its target condition, then at that point kanban is brought in and utilized. Teams stay focused on their next target condition. This approach makes our efforts more meaningful and successful. It teaches us more scientific & effective habits of thinking and acting.© Mike Rother Deploying 21

THE ROLES y External Learner and Team (The Process Owners) Responsible for required performance in the required time and quality, and for improving Coach the process with the Improvement Kata. The Learner conducts experiments with PDCA and develops solutions, in dialogue with process operators and 1st Coach. x Advance w Middle Managers (The Coaches/Teachers) Responsible for teaching the Improvement Kata and for the team’s results. Conducts Group coaching cycles daily using the 5 questions. v Ensures the Learner is working and practicing scientifically and experimentally according to the Improvement Kata. The Coaching coach’s job is to develop the Learner, not to Kata improve the process. 2nd Coach 2nd Coach (Coach the Managers) Learner Responsible for the coaching process.u & Team Coach (Manager) Periodically observes coaching cycles between middle managers and Learners. Ensures connection between an overall challenge and process-level improvement. Advance Group (The Shepherds) Responsible for overall deployment of the Improvement Improvement Kata in the organization. The Advance Group plans & monitors the Kata deployment process, and introduces course corrections (PDCAs the skill-building process).© Mike Rother Deploying 22

y AN EXTERNAL COACH The role of an external coach is to help you develop Improvement Kata coaching competency in your organization as quickly and effectively as possible, so you can teach and spread the Improvement Kata within your organization with less and less reliance on outside expertise. The external coach is used more at beginning than later, initially coaching the Advance Group. Itʼs important that training and coaching increasingly be handled internally. The role of the external coach is not to do all your training for you. That will not work. You will not develop the skills.© Mike Rother Deploying 23

x THE ADVANCE GROUP A small group that plans and monitors the deployment the Improvement Kata© Mike Rother Deploying 24

START WITH A SMALL “ADVANCE GROUP” AKA “The Shepherds” Advance Group refers to a team of 3-5 people who orchestrate the deployment of Improvement Kata thinking and skill in the organization or site. There can be one advance group for the overall organization and an advance group at each site. • The Advance Group is not responsible for conducting all coaching and training, nor for making improvement happen at all processes. That will be the responsibility of middle managers and leaders who coach in their areas. • Because internal coaches are needed, this is also a good time to simultaneously train a few high-potential coaches who can later coach in various areas of the organization as needed. • The Advance Group plus initial coaches should total no more than 9 persons. A larger group becomes too difficult to manage when everyoneʼs skill levels is ʻbeginnerʼ. • The Advance Group should include a senior executive (the senior executive in small and mid-sized companies or sites). • The Advance Group is not a Lean staff group, although a Lean staff member can be on the Advance Group. If you have a lean staff, their role may migrate toward being “master coaches” for middle managers, who will be the heart of the IK effort. • The Advance Group will initially need training and guidance from an external coach, which can be an outside consultant.© Mike Rother Deploying 25

WITHOUT AN ADVANCE GROUP TO SHEPHERD IT,SKILL DEVELOPMENT IS UNLIKELY TO SUCCEED Planning a perfect deployment of new skills is impossible, so it will be important to sense obstacles, problems and weaknesses as they arise, learn from them and adapt the deployment plan accordingly. Thatʼs the responsibility of the Advance Group. (x) persons at (x) Dreyfus level of Improvement Kata skill, and (x) processes under Improvement Kata management, by (x) date. AG Current Obstacles Problems Target Condition Condition Old Habits Youʼre working on a change in how your organization manages people, so theres a need for high-level PDCA. The Advance Group does this high-level reflecting and adjusting.© Mike Rother Deploying 26

Phase II: ADVANCE GROUP PRACTICINGTo be able to fulfill their shepherding role, the Advance Group members firstdevelop some Improvement Kata skill by practicing on real work processes • The Advance Groupʼs practicing typically takes two months. • If the site does not already have a future-state value stream map to provide challenge, then the Advance Group may begin with this, which adds additional time but is excellent experience. • To gain experience with all four steps of the IK, the Advance Group members work toward three successive target conditions. • A key skill is “PDCA rigor,” and an advance group member should personally experience about 25 PDCA cycles. © Mike Rother Deploying 27

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADVANCE GROUP PRACTICING R Select focus processes that are well-suited for beginners to practice on. Typically these are compact processes that have repetitive cycles. With beginners the primary goal is to internalize the Improvement Kata pattern, not to address the most complicated processes and problems. R At the start there are no experienced coaches. To bridge that gap you can do Phase II Advance Group practicing in the following rotation models, whereby each person in turn takes the role of learner, coach and 2nd coach. This is a temporary, artificial structure for Advance Group practicing and to quickly develop some coaches. Remember, you can select a few extra persons to practice together with the Advance group, so youʼll have a few more coaches for the initial deployment. (Eventually middle managers will be the coaches.)© Mike Rother Deploying 28

ROTATION PRACTICE MODEL For example for 9 Persons • Select 3 processes with 3 person practicing per process. This is the Advance Group members + the additional coaches in training, for a total of 9 persons. • Since these are artificially-selected processes, the Learner pairs with the process Supervisor to apply the Improvement Kata to the process. • The members in each group rotate their role within their group every 1-4 weeks. 2nd Coach Learner Process and Coach Supervisor 1 upGro Process 1 2G roup Process 2 3 upGro Process 3© Mike Rother Deploying 29

ADVANCE GROUP PLANNING FORM Fill in persons and processes for Advance Group IK practicing Practice Start: Rotation Dates End: Frequency Advance Group Process Supervisor(s) PRACTICE Members and (pairs with Learner) PROCESSES Coaches in Training© Mike Rother Deploying 30

Phase III:ONCE THE ADVANCE GROUP HAS PRACTICED THE IK The Advance Groupʼs focus now shifts to the following tasks q Expand IK practice into the organization “slice” by “slice” q Prepare a 6 or 12-month skill-development plan. q Help start the process by coaching as necessary. At the early stages when there are too few coaches, Advance Group members may also coach managers or be 2nd coaches. q Observe coaching cycles. Check and adjust the deployment via PDCA. This is the most important Advance Group task. Conduct regular reflections of actual current conditions against the skill-development plan. q Ensure that teams applying the IK are working toward an appropriate challenge. Connect activities. © Mike Rother Deploying 31

ADVANCE GROUP PREPARES A 6 or 12 MONTH SKILL-DEVELOPMENT PLAN The basic question... what persons do you want to bring to whatskill level with the Improvement Kata by 6 or 12 months from now? Use the following headings in the plan I. Vision (your ultimate goal related to IK skill) II. Challenge (related to IK skill, 6 to 12 months out) III. Current Condition IV. Next Target Condition (1-3 months out) V. What We Will Measure Obstacles & necessary PDCA will arise in the Advance Groupʼs bi-weekly reflections© Mike Rother Deploying 32

THE ADVANCE GROUP THEN REFLECTS REGULARLY The Advance Group reflects against the skill development plan (for example bi-weekly) and introduces adjustments as necessaryBy conducting regular checks the Advance Group learns what itneeds to work on to achieve its target condition of skill development© Mike Rother Deploying 33

THEORETICAL DEPLOYMENT Current Improvement ManagementManagerʼs Kata Approach ApproachWorkday Time © Mike Rother Deploying 34

THE REALITY Hereʼs why you need an Advance Group! The Advance Group conducts PDCA at the deployment level. Unforeseen deployment obstacles, problems, etc. Current Improvement Management Kata ApproachManagerʼs ApproachWorkday Without an Advance Group the deployment dies here Time © Mike Rother Deploying 35

CONDUCT REGULAR ADVANCE GROUP REFLECTIONS This is where a lot of the success or failure in developing Improvement Kata skills and management will be determined When you execute a plan and work toward a target condition youʼll need to make adjustments based on what you learn from the unforeseen obstacles and problems you discover along the way. The advance group does this by scheduling regular reflection times. Bi-weekly, for example. An Advance Group reflection is built around the same 5 Coaching Kata Questions © Mike Rother Deploying 36

FIVE THINGS FOR THE ADVANCE GROUP TO MEASURE u Progress toward the system-level challenge Are individual process-level target conditions related to a higher-level challenge (lead time, productivity, etc.), and is progress being made? v Progress toward process target conditions Relevant metric(s) can be taken right from each work processʼs target condition. w Learnerʼs skill development How well are the coaches doing in developing Improvement Kata skill in their learners? Use the Dreyfus Levels to assess skill level. x Frequency and duration of coaching cycles For each coach, track the start and stop times of their coaching cycles. (Longer is not better.) y Length of Learnersʼ PDCA cycles PDCA cycles should ideally be short & frequent© Mike Rother Deploying 37

PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO COACHING Learnerʼs Storyboard Process Coach Learner Coaching is If the learner is not the key variable learning or the target condition is not being reached, the problem lies in the coaching© Mike Rother Deploying 38

To all Advance Groups... WATCH THE ROLLOUT SPEED Resist the temptation to roll out the Improvement Kata as broadly and quickly as possible. Thatʼs a sure bet for failure because it will... -> Multiply mistakes due to shortcutting the necessary PDCAs. -> Outrun your organizationʼs coaching capacity. The Advance Group should practice and learn first. Then move ahead slowly at first, experimenting and adjusting. Gain speed as coaching capacity increases. After the first year itʼs better to say, “We could have gone faster,” than to say, “We went too fast.”© Mike Rother Deploying 39

v MANAGERS Managers are the Improvement Kata teachers / coaches Middle managers, not lean staff persons, should be the main teachers of the Improvement Kata in the organization. They are the primary coaches.© Mike Rother Deploying 40

THE IMPROVEMENT KATA IS A WAY OF MANAGING! Managers teach Improvement Kata skills to their people every day Although the Improvement Kata describes a routine for continuous improvement, keep in mind that this kata is a way of managing people every day. Because they are automatically teachers every day, middle managers may have more influence on an organizationʼs capability than any other group. The Improvement Kata is a way of managing that generates skills and initiative to improve, adapt and keep the organization moving forward.© Mike Rother Deploying 41

THE CORE ROLES IN THE DEPLOYMENT w Team e Lin ger Learnerʼs Storyboard ana 2nd Coach M Participates v u periodically Pays particular attention to the coach (coaches the coach) Process Coach Learner (Manager) The coach is responsible for The team owns teaching the improvement the target condition kata, and for the results and works to achieve it The coach uses the Coaching The learner & team use Kata, asking the 5 TK questions the Improvement Kata© Mike Rother Deploying 42

COACHING CYCLES ARE THE MANAGERʼS DAILY IMPROVEMENT-KATA TEACHING MECHANISM Once they have practiced and learned the Improvement Kata, managers use daily Coaching Cycles as a teaching techniqueThe coach uses the The learner uses the Five TK Questions PDCA Cycles Record Coaching cycles are a way to guide learners in their Improvement Kata practice© Mike Rother Deploying 43

COACHING CYCLES FOR IMPROVEMENT KATA TRAINING One coaching cycle involves a coach asking the learner the Five TK Questions, while at the process. We usually strive for this to be done at least once every shift, taking 10-15 minutes. (Note: it takes some practice to get to 10-15 minute coaching cycles that are not just a formality.) Coaching cycles are conducted at regularly-scheduled times + spontaneously when the need arises. As necessary, after a coaching cycle the coach may opt to accompany the learner - which would be coaching - or simply to return for the next coaching cycle. One Day Scheduled Coaching Additional coaching cycles Cycle as necessary For detailed instructions on how to conduct Coaching Cycles see the Improvement Kata Handbook© Mike Rother Deploying 44

THESE ARE THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL ROUTINES AT THE CORE OF THE COACHING KATA The Five Question card is available on the Toyota Kata WebsiteThe 5-Question Coaching Dialog Rapid PDCA Cycles Five-Question Card PDCA Cycles Record Used by the COACH Used by the LEARNER © Mike Rother Deploying 45

wTHE 2nd COACHES They observe & coach the coaches There will be a need for some master coaches. These may initially come from the Advance Group, Lean staff, etc.© Mike Rother Deploying 47

THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF THE 2nd COACH The apparent simplicity of the Five Questions makes coaching seem easier to learn than it is. We underestimate whatʼs involved in coaching and what it takes to learn it. It takes considerable practice and regular reflection to master the intent and pattern of the Coaching Kata. For the coach, coaching cycles are not only a means of teaching the Improvement Kata but also a PDCA cycle whereby the coach checks and reflects on the result of his/her last coaching. If the learner isnʼt learning the Improvement Kata or a team is not achieving its target conditions the problem is usually in the coaching. In other words, the coach is practicing the Coaching Kata and for this needs someone with coaching experience to periodically observe him conducting coaching cycles and provide feedback (to coach the coach). Thatʼs the role of the 2nd coach. The periodic presence of an experienced second coach is essential if you want to develop managers with effective coaching skills.© Mike Rother Deploying 48

THE ROLE OF THE 2nd COACH Team Learnerʼs Storyboard 2nd Coach Participates periodically (eg. once / week) Pays particular attention to the coach Process (coaches the coach) Coach Learner (Manager) Coach is responsible for Learner & Team own teaching the Improvement the target condition Kata, and for the results and work to achieve it The 2nd Coachʼs role is to ensure that middle managers are teaching/coaching the Improvement Kata correctly. The 2nd Coach does this primarily by observing a managersʼ coaching cycles.© Mike Rother Deploying 49

http://www.toyotakata.nl	247
http://rwlwss	15
http://www.techgig.com	13
https://smt-wiki.zeiss.org	7
http://test.lean.org	2
http://rwlsharepoint	2
http://twitter.com	1

How to Deploy the Improvement Kata

by Mike Rother

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

7 Embeds 287

Statistics

How to Deploy the Improvement Kata Presentation Transcript